“The zero-waste movement is coming for your garbage”

“The goal: Create as little garbage as possible. Recycling isn’t enough — only 9 percent of all plastic waste on Earth has been recycled. Among all the adherents of the zero- and low-waste lifestyle I spoke to, the first and foremost tenet is preventing waste from existing in the first place. Although its current iteration may have begun out of individual interest, over the past few years a growing number of zero-waste stores have sprouted up around across the country and around the world, helping both businesses and customers prevent garbage from ending up in landfills. Now, even major brands and cities are joining in, and it’s not all that difficult to understand why.”